The Final Countdown

1. It's been a long time since I had been to Husky Stadium. Probably around the last time a repair man was there. I had heard people talk about its awful state, but never would have believed it. Good or bad, it gives the stadium a lot of character that you can't emulate.  My favorite part is that the steel support beams are painted green.  Try and figure that one out.

2. Husky Stadium is quiet now. The loudest part is when they announced a team that went 8-4. 8-4. Yes, that team won the Rose Bowl. But it wasn't a national championship team. It was a team from 1977. It was a team that, I bet, if you polled all the Husky fans in that stadium, less than 20% were around for. But they cheered. Because they needed something to cheer. OK, so they were cheering for Don James when they showed him on the video screen twice.  Still, that was the loudest they got and more exciting to them than the game. 

Note: while the collective stadium of Husky fans were quiet, the individuals were not. Which brings me to my next observation...

3. Husky fans are still pompous (lawyers). I've never met another group of people who could be rooting for a team that hasn't won a game in 7 attempts (dating back to last year) and tell me how much me and my team suck. Luckily, me and my friends were liquored up enough to be quite witty. Some of my favorite comebacks to the boos and hisses from Husky fans on the way to the stadium (Husky comment in italics, our response in bold)

You guys suck! BOOOO :::shows middle finger:::

Yeah, I'd boo me too if I never won a game.

Excuse me, superior education coming through.

What's it like waking up every Saturday knowing you're a loser?

(their response) at least we have a National Championship!

Yeah, in 1991. You hold onto that like a bad case of herpes!

This was my favorite from my buddy:

You guys suck! Go back to where you came from!

We suck? 0 and 5 (clap clap clap clap clap)

(their response) At least we don't live in Corvallis! At least we have stuff to do on the weekends instead of kidnapping gay sheep!

You mean like watch Husky football?

Didn't hear another word from those guys. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of cordial Husky fans. Many just wanted to party and have a good time. But it's always those few that ruin it for everyone.

4. It wasn't a bad game. It wasn't a great game, but it wasn't bad. We did what we had to do to win on the road. A couple of their completions were toss ups (that we should have batted at least) but they were lucky to grab. But our rush defense looked fine. Take away that 52 yard run at the beginning of the 4th quarter, and they finish with less than 75 yards rushing and don't score a TD the whole game. It was also nice to see the the outside runs be effective again. I know it wasn't against the best defense; but 2 runs of 50+ yards on misdirection plays should keep defenses honest up the middle for about the rest of the year.

All in all, great experience. Fun tailgating atmosphere, beautiful view from the OSU section, and we got a dominating W. Let's all take the bye week to rest up, and for us OSU students, get ready for the craziest weekend of the year (Halloween on Friday the 31st, ASU/Homecoming the very next day) GO BEAVS